The subject matter disclosed herein relates to the art of electrical control systems and, more particularly, to an electrical distribution system including micro electro-mechanical switch (MEMS) devices.
Circuit breakers are used to protect electrical circuits from damage due to an overload condition or a short circuit condition. Certain circuit breakers provide protection to uses by sensing ground and arc fault conditions. Upon sensing an overload, a short circuit condition, and/or a fault, the circuit breaker interrupts power to the electric circuit to prevent, or at least minimize, damage to circuit components and/or prevent injury. Currently, circuit breakers independently sense and respond to an over current condition in an associated electrical circuit. As such, each circuit breaker must include dedicated current sensing devices, thermal sensing devices, control devices, and mechanical switch devices. The mechanical switch devices are operated by the control devices to cut-off electrical current passing through the circuit breaker in response to signals indicating an over current condition or short circuit from the current and thermal sensing devices.